Army developing 50-kilowatt laser weapon for Stryker vehicles to protect soldiers from UAVs and artillery
WASHINGTON – After years of testing out a low-energy Stryker-mounted directed energy system, the Army is formally pushing for a combat-ready laser weapon to blast enemy drones and ordnance out of the sky in the next four years. Task & Purpose reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
5 Aug. 2019 -- The Army officially is accelerating the prototyping and fielding of four Stryker vehicles outfitted with 50-kilowatt laser weapons by 2022 -- a ten-fold increase over the 5-kilowatt system that artillery soldiers have been testing in Germany since early 2018.
The new laser prototype, known as the Multi-Mission High Energy Laser (MMHEL), is to protect maneuvering brigade combat teams from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), helicopters, rockets, artillery shells, and mortars as part of the Army's Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) capabilities.
The Army isn't stopping at 50-kilowatt laser weapons for Stryker vehicles, though. The service is pursuing a prototype 100-kilowatt high energy laser tactical vehicle demonstrator (HEL-TVD) laser not just to mount on medium tactical vehicles, but also to inform other directed-energy efforts across the U.S. armed forces.
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics